Tel Aviv Appeal Panel Requires Changes to Atarim Square Tower Plan

Tel Aviv's district planning appeals committee approved the Atarim Square redevelopment in principle on Wednesday, while requiring changes to its building rights and public spaces. The panel ordered a reduction of 4,000 square meters in permitted construction, smaller tower footprints and more usable open space along the seafront. The project promoted by JTLV calls for two 25-story towers, 220 homes and about 300 hotel rooms, alongside commercial space, lower buildings and underground public parking. The committee identified a shortfall of roughly two dunams of public open space. It said the assessment must reflect how people can actually use the area, rather than treating passageways and stairs as substitutes for a square where people can gather. The coastal park must remain open to the public around the clock under municipal management and maintenance. The panel required wind studies and measures to protect pedestrian comfort, as well as greater separation from the neighboring Carlton and Herods hotels. Residential and hotel uses must occupy separate towers, and the homes cannot be occupied before the hotel tower is completed and authorized for occupancy. Residents and property-right holders had challenged the project's scale, coastal views and public-space provision. Attorney Noam Kolodny, representing the residents' association, called the ruling an achievement for public access while stressing that revisions, valuation questions and possible further proceedings remain. The square, built in the 1970s at the meeting of Ben-Gurion Boulevard and the seafront, is also slated for changes to Eliezer Peri Street: its depressed section would return to street level to improve access to the coast. The planning documents now require correction; the decision does not mark the start of construction.